My brother-in-law was so proud of the bargain he got on a case of quality tee-shirts at the flea market last Sunday.And, he thought the slogan; “Work Time Fun” was cool enough. (It becomes even more obvious that he is over the age of 50 as the story unfolds).He thought he might even take the case of shirts to give to his staff at the hospital – it would show some work spirit.

That is until his son, much more internet slang savvy, informed his father that WTF was NOT a slogan that he should promote wearing at the hospital lab! Of course both father and son had a good laugh when Dad learned that WTF was more commonly known as slang for “What the f---“.Although that phrase might get mumbled under someone’s breath at work, it was not something to promote for the department’s spirit shirts!!

Internet slang changes as quickly as the moods of the teenagers using it.But, are you keeping up with at least the basics?If not, you and your clients might be speaking two different languages.More and more of our communications are through texting, instant messaging, and email, whether we like it or not.Have you been baffled by any of the “netspeak” or “chatspeak” used in these messages?

If you are confused by netspeak, you are not alone!Several internet sites are devoted to explaining internet slang and complete dictionaries of slang can be found online.One helpful site is NoSlang.com.If you have teenagers at home, I suggest you first read the article entitled, “25 InternetSlangTermsAllParentsShouldKnow.”

I don’t think most of our real estate clients will be using slang from the teenager list, but there are some terms that will show up in your communications.Hopefully WTF will not be one of them, but be prepared for LOL (laughing out loud), IDK (I don’t know), K (ok), NP (no problem), OMW (on my way), TY (thank you), and WTB (want to buy - - like to see that one in real estate!).Another common netspeak phrase is WYSIWYG (pronounced “wizzywig”) which means “what you see is what you get”.

Not to worry – if you find yourself baffled by a term in your online communications, just click on one of the online dictionaries and you’ll be enlightened.If you want to minimize your online work, take advantage of services such as those offered by BestAgentBusiness.Schedule a call with President, SteveKantor to learn more about assistance with online marketing, blogging, email campaigns, listings, and much more.In other words, “pleze t2m re BAB. Tks”(Please talk to me regarding Best Agent Business.Thanks.)